Decade
Yet another thing snatched from corvus_animus
1999 - I was 13 years old, and starting my freshman year of high school. At this point, I had been volunteering at the Lutz Children's Museum in the animal room for 2 years. I had all the social awkwardness of a new teen.
2000 - Finished up freshman year, then turned 15 years old, and was a sophomore. I got my first job working at a mom-and-pop convenience store, courtesy of a friend who worked there and said they needed help. At this point, I still wanted to be an ornithologist, but wasn't really thinking too far ahead about college.
2001 - Finished up sophomore year, turned 16 years old, became a junior. I remember this was the year I started drifting away from Christianity and more towards Paganism. One day, in 10th grade English (I remember, Dr. Rascher's class), I made the decision not to lie to myself spiritually anymore, and was no longer a Christian. Around this time I met oni-chan. :3 This was the year I started working at Mary Cheney Library.
2002 - Finished junior year, turned 17 years old, entered senior year. This was the year I started riding lessons. I'd always been interested in horses, but this was the year I decided to do something about it. I started looking at colleges, and became interested in Rocky Mountain College in Montana. I decided I wanted to go into equestrian studies. Also, my first plane ride! I went to New Orleans with calliope-jones.
2003 Flew to Montana to visit Rocky, and fell in love with the state and campus. Graduated from high school and turned 18 in the summer. Just before I graduated, my stepfather threatened to break my neck over a piece of uneaten hot dog bun, and I left the house to live with my father. Things had been building up for several years and this was where it ended. Drove from Connecticut to Montana with my brother, stopping at several places along the way (including camping in Wyoming). This was also my last year volunteering at the Lutz for obvious reasons (I was going to be 2,500 miles away!).
Started my equestrian studies program, found it a bit over my head, but I was able to find a log to grab and float up on. This was when I made lots of friends whom I still have today, including kaitou-lili, spirallingoasis, Darin, Sam, and Ali.
2004 - 19 years old. This was the year I discovered art was really my passion, and while I loved horses, I simply didn't have the drive or passion for the equestrian world. I finished my freshman year and all my equestrian classes, and in my sophomore year, switched my major to art. I continued to minor in equestrian studies. When I returned to Connecticut in the summer, I was informed my mother had been diagnosed with a form of dementia. She'd been showing signs of problems with her memory for a while that started getting worse. During the summer, I went to California with my brother, and our friends John, Nancy, and Ryan. We visited John's uncle in Sebastapol and drove pretty much all over Northern California.
2005 - 20 years old, junior year. Dropped the equestrian minor and minored instead in creative writing, still majoring in art. This was the year I rediscovered watercolors. In the summer, oni-chan, my brother, and John flew out and we did a roadtrip to the Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho). This quenched my desire to finally visit Seattle (plans of which had been thwarted times before). Visited/met in real life ladydove7 for the first time during the summer.
Also this was the year I started my summer job at HB Communications. Since it was 45 minutes away and I commuted with John, I was at the mercy of whatever hours he worked (usually 10 per day), getting up super early and getting home late. I had no time for art. I hated this job.
2006 - Spent January to May in Galway, Ireland studying abroad. Also traveled to Rome and visited my friend Jude in southwestern Germany. During this time in Germany I realized I finally got an inkling of what the emotion of 'home' was and realized I would never be truly happy in the U.S. Started my senior year at Rocky when I returned, with a major case of reverse-homesickness. Spent another summer working at HB, fell into severe depression due to being back in the U.S. and that job, and also got a 2-month case of bronchitis - neither of which I saw a doctor for. Got my driver's license while sick with said bronchitis. In September, I went to my first DragonCon.
2007 - My senior art show at Rocky, this was also the year I graduated from Rocky with my B.A. in art. I was 21. Leaving Montana was hard, but at least I had something else to look forward to - earlier in the year I applied to the Savannah College of Art and Design and got accepted into their graduate illustration program. Summer was spent working at HB for one more summer, which was a little less torturous since I had SCAD to look forward too. Still, those three years cemented in me a conviction never to work an office/9-5 job again. This was the year I made a difficult decision - take the 'safe path' and not go to graduate school and try to make money with a B.A., or go $100,000 into debt to go to graduate school to get my M.F.A, so I could teach college. I took the plunge and went to grad school. This was my first year at SCAD, where I met Rick and Julie (my graduate illustration professors) for the first time.
2008 - Second year of graduate school, 22 years old. During the summer I worked as a Summer Seminar Assistant and got free room and board as a result, plus a stipend. Took summer classes to make up for the provisional classes I had to take (figure drawing and digital art) Felt like I was at the bottom of the class because everyone else was so amazing. Entered tons of competitions, never placed in any. However, I learned a ridiculous amount and improved as an artist.
This was the year I started my thesis, An Illustrative Exploration of Birds of Prey in History and Culture, and did two quarters of a teaching internship. This was the year I got into contact with The Author and started the Project from Hell.
2009 - 23 years old. Graduated from SCAD with my M.F.A. in illustration, and bought my first car from Angela's Dad (it was her car originally). Drove from Georgia to Connecticut and started to prepare for DragonCon. The day after my 24th birthday my dad wakes me up to bring him to the emergency room. He had an infection on his heel which required surgery. 5 months later he's still healing.
I discover just how MUCH of a Project from Hell this is. I am flown out not once, not twice, but three times so I can revise the project in front of the author and his assistants. The DragonCon art show is a bit strange, but still successful. I win my first award for my charity piggy.
This was the year I also started making leather masks. I'm still learning, but all in all I'm finding a strange amount of success with them, and I really enjoy making them. The last few months were spent frantically trying to find ways of coming up with monthly payments for my loans, which has of course continued into 2010. Still looking for a teaching job, still unable to find any. 2009 ended bleakly, and I'm hoping something changes for 2010.
Wow, now that I read all that, things really seemed to spiral down in 2009. Oh well, a new year, a new start.
1999 - I was 13 years old, and starting my freshman year of high school. At this point, I had been volunteering at the Lutz Children's Museum in the animal room for 2 years. I had all the social awkwardness of a new teen.
2000 - Finished up freshman year, then turned 15 years old, and was a sophomore. I got my first job working at a mom-and-pop convenience store, courtesy of a friend who worked there and said they needed help. At this point, I still wanted to be an ornithologist, but wasn't really thinking too far ahead about college.
2001 - Finished up sophomore year, turned 16 years old, became a junior. I remember this was the year I started drifting away from Christianity and more towards Paganism. One day, in 10th grade English (I remember, Dr. Rascher's class), I made the decision not to lie to myself spiritually anymore, and was no longer a Christian. Around this time I met oni-chan. :3 This was the year I started working at Mary Cheney Library.
2002 - Finished junior year, turned 17 years old, entered senior year. This was the year I started riding lessons. I'd always been interested in horses, but this was the year I decided to do something about it. I started looking at colleges, and became interested in Rocky Mountain College in Montana. I decided I wanted to go into equestrian studies. Also, my first plane ride! I went to New Orleans with calliope-jones.
2003 Flew to Montana to visit Rocky, and fell in love with the state and campus. Graduated from high school and turned 18 in the summer. Just before I graduated, my stepfather threatened to break my neck over a piece of uneaten hot dog bun, and I left the house to live with my father. Things had been building up for several years and this was where it ended. Drove from Connecticut to Montana with my brother, stopping at several places along the way (including camping in Wyoming). This was also my last year volunteering at the Lutz for obvious reasons (I was going to be 2,500 miles away!).
Started my equestrian studies program, found it a bit over my head, but I was able to find a log to grab and float up on. This was when I made lots of friends whom I still have today, including kaitou-lili, spirallingoasis, Darin, Sam, and Ali.
2004 - 19 years old. This was the year I discovered art was really my passion, and while I loved horses, I simply didn't have the drive or passion for the equestrian world. I finished my freshman year and all my equestrian classes, and in my sophomore year, switched my major to art. I continued to minor in equestrian studies. When I returned to Connecticut in the summer, I was informed my mother had been diagnosed with a form of dementia. She'd been showing signs of problems with her memory for a while that started getting worse. During the summer, I went to California with my brother, and our friends John, Nancy, and Ryan. We visited John's uncle in Sebastapol and drove pretty much all over Northern California.
2005 - 20 years old, junior year. Dropped the equestrian minor and minored instead in creative writing, still majoring in art. This was the year I rediscovered watercolors. In the summer, oni-chan, my brother, and John flew out and we did a roadtrip to the Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho). This quenched my desire to finally visit Seattle (plans of which had been thwarted times before). Visited/met in real life ladydove7 for the first time during the summer.
Also this was the year I started my summer job at HB Communications. Since it was 45 minutes away and I commuted with John, I was at the mercy of whatever hours he worked (usually 10 per day), getting up super early and getting home late. I had no time for art. I hated this job.
2006 - Spent January to May in Galway, Ireland studying abroad. Also traveled to Rome and visited my friend Jude in southwestern Germany. During this time in Germany I realized I finally got an inkling of what the emotion of 'home' was and realized I would never be truly happy in the U.S. Started my senior year at Rocky when I returned, with a major case of reverse-homesickness. Spent another summer working at HB, fell into severe depression due to being back in the U.S. and that job, and also got a 2-month case of bronchitis - neither of which I saw a doctor for. Got my driver's license while sick with said bronchitis. In September, I went to my first DragonCon.
2007 - My senior art show at Rocky, this was also the year I graduated from Rocky with my B.A. in art. I was 21. Leaving Montana was hard, but at least I had something else to look forward to - earlier in the year I applied to the Savannah College of Art and Design and got accepted into their graduate illustration program. Summer was spent working at HB for one more summer, which was a little less torturous since I had SCAD to look forward too. Still, those three years cemented in me a conviction never to work an office/9-5 job again. This was the year I made a difficult decision - take the 'safe path' and not go to graduate school and try to make money with a B.A., or go $100,000 into debt to go to graduate school to get my M.F.A, so I could teach college. I took the plunge and went to grad school. This was my first year at SCAD, where I met Rick and Julie (my graduate illustration professors) for the first time.
2008 - Second year of graduate school, 22 years old. During the summer I worked as a Summer Seminar Assistant and got free room and board as a result, plus a stipend. Took summer classes to make up for the provisional classes I had to take (figure drawing and digital art) Felt like I was at the bottom of the class because everyone else was so amazing. Entered tons of competitions, never placed in any. However, I learned a ridiculous amount and improved as an artist.
This was the year I started my thesis, An Illustrative Exploration of Birds of Prey in History and Culture, and did two quarters of a teaching internship. This was the year I got into contact with The Author and started the Project from Hell.
2009 - 23 years old. Graduated from SCAD with my M.F.A. in illustration, and bought my first car from Angela's Dad (it was her car originally). Drove from Georgia to Connecticut and started to prepare for DragonCon. The day after my 24th birthday my dad wakes me up to bring him to the emergency room. He had an infection on his heel which required surgery. 5 months later he's still healing.
I discover just how MUCH of a Project from Hell this is. I am flown out not once, not twice, but three times so I can revise the project in front of the author and his assistants. The DragonCon art show is a bit strange, but still successful. I win my first award for my charity piggy.
This was the year I also started making leather masks. I'm still learning, but all in all I'm finding a strange amount of success with them, and I really enjoy making them. The last few months were spent frantically trying to find ways of coming up with monthly payments for my loans, which has of course continued into 2010. Still looking for a teaching job, still unable to find any. 2009 ended bleakly, and I'm hoping something changes for 2010.
Wow, now that I read all that, things really seemed to spiral down in 2009. Oh well, a new year, a new start.